The present invention relates to a spring leg mounting and spring cup receiver for a spring at a wheel of a motor vehicle.
In a chassis construction for an automotive vehicle, a "spring leg" comprises a combination of a coil spring and a telescopic shock absorber. The coil spring rests in cup shaped receivers against the shock absorber and the body of the vehicle. The outer tube of the spring leg and the part at which the wheel bearings are seated are frequently combined to form a single unit. During steering of the vehicle, this unit swings around the piston rod of the shock absorber. That rod is fastened by a rubber block to the body. In order to reduce the resistance to steering, one of the two spring pads rests in an antifriction bearing.
Federal Republic of Germany Patent 26 58 748 discloses an axial antifriction bearing for the turnable supporting of the spring pad in spring legs of motor vehicles. An antifriction bearing can be snapped together to form a structural unit by means of a plastic cap. Such spring leg mountings have proven satisfactory in actual practice.
Another development of such mountings is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,737 to the assignee hereof. In that case an encapsulated bearing is provided with several projections for securing the bearing and is snapped into the spring cup.
The problem in the prior art mountings is that it is necessary to support the bearing and the plastic cap on a supporting part for transmitting force. For this purpose, a spring cup of sheet metal is provided which must be of suitable stability. This increases weight.